


things that go with snow cream

by phinnia



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnia/pseuds/phinnia
Summary: I'm not trying to rescue you, I'm taking you along as emergency rations.  If you die, I'm going to eat you.--The AscentA drugging, a robbery (of ten bars of latinum!), and a trip to somewhere where it snows.
Relationships: Jadzia Dax & Odo, Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

_I'm not trying to rescue you, I'm taking you along as emergency rations. If you die, I'm going to eat you._

\--The Ascent

After the mountain, things are different.

Quark spends hours working in the bar, polishing glasses, smiling and joking with customers, letting his opalescent nails glitter in the lights, making Black Holes and Warp Core Breaches, pouring glass after glass of Saurian brandy and springwine.

Odo was at the bar more often. First at one of the tables, and then sitting closer to the bar. After he becomes a changeling again, he didn't have a physical need to to be there, and yet he still feels emotions tugging him towards Quark. 

"Are you going to actually buy anything?" Quark asks him. "I know you have no reason to drink or eat anything anymore, but there's other things you can do."

Odo smiles slightly. "I'll think about it."

He does think about it.

When he's reading security reports. When he's waiting during conversations for people. When he's just about to regenerate. He thinks about a lot of things, but most of them seem to involve Quark in some way. 

Not just crimes, although most of them are indeed crimes.

"So if you're just _lounging_ ," Quark asks him at a slow point during some evening as he mixes a drink for some new ensign, "why are you here, other than taking up valuable bar space and spoiling my plans for the evening?"

"You have plans for the evening?" He says. The thought makes something inside him flutter and twist. "Illegal or immoral?"

"Both, obviously." Quark grins and pours a glass of kanar for Garak. "Aren't all the best plans both, Garak?"

"I wouldn't even begin to say." Garak says smoothly, and takes his glass of kanar back to his table. 

He has no idea what to do about this. All he can think to do is continue with his job. So that's what he does. Arresting people. Searching for contraband. 

And of course, that makes him run across Quark more often than not.

"What is _in_ this container?" he asks Quark.

"Nothing you'd be interested in!" the little Ferengi says. "It's just ... supplies for the bar."

"I don't believe a word you say, Quark."

"I can't imagine why, I'm an honest businessman. I'm a _community leader._ I'm shocked you would treat me like this over bar supplies." 

How he can make his face look so forlorn is absolutely _unbelievable_.

What's worse is that Odo almost feels like he's falling for it.

Almost.

Some early station morning he's off shift in his quarters reading _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_. He was finding Agatha Christie not as good as Mickey Spillane, but she was very thorough.

Then he hears a rattle in the hallway and the sound of ... someone trying to meddle with his lock?

What?

He set the padd down and strode over to the door, thumbing it open. 

Quark falls on the floor.

"Quark?" He looks down. "What are you doing here?"

"Odo?" His eyes look strange, unfocused. 

"I think you've got the wrong floor." 

"Oh. Damn." 

He smiles woozily up at Odo and then his eyelids flutter shut.

Odo thumbs his communicator. "Odo to Ops - beam two to the infirmary, medical emergency."

It turns out that someone's drugged Quark's drink, some sort of long-acting sedative that only works on Ferengi and Doptarians. 

"I don't usually drink at the bar." Quark says, rubbing his head. "I mean, I have a few with Morn, but does Morn really count? Morn wouldn't try to kill me. Where would he go for drinks? Oh, and I had one or two with that Andorian woman that was passing through."

"What Andorian woman that was passing through?" Odo asks, pacing.

"Oh, I can't remember her name. She had really cute antennae, though, and was selling shares in a snow cream franchising operation. Of course, I didn't buy, but I had a couple Samarian Sunsets with her."

"There were two ships with Andorians on them that left the station within the last twelve hours." Odo checks the logs. "A military vessel headed to the Gamma Quadrant, and a freighter going back to Andoria." He shows Quark images. "Do you recognize any of these?"

"That's her." He points at one of them. 

"Tellan." Odo reads the file. "She's a smuggler. Wanted on Andor for assault and kidnapping the son of a high-level politican."

"Are you feeling all right, Quark?" Doctor Bashir says.

"Fine! I should probably open the bar before Morn wastes away on the Promenade." He smiles at Bashir and jumps down from the bio-bed.

"You're welcome, Quark." Odo mutters to himself, and stalks out after him.

Doctor Bashir chuckles to himself.

Odo sees Quark about an hour later, though. Or, well, he _hears_ Quark.

Quark is screaming.

Odo runs into the bar. "What's going on?"

"I've been robbed!" Quark looks _terrible_ , pale, like he's about to vomit. "Ten bars of latinum! I've been robbed of _ten bars of latinum!_ This is horrible, Odo! How can you let these things happen? _Ten bars! Practically my life's savings -"_

"Calm down, we'll get to the bottom of this. Have you checked all the waiters?" He holds Quark at arm's length. 

"Yes I've checked all the waiters, they may be Ferengi but they'd never do anything like that! Odo, stop just standing there, you aren't doing _anything_! You have to do something! It's _ten bars of latinum_ , Do you have any idea -" 

Odo sighs and calls Doctor Bashir for a sedative. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Napaaktoktok is a river in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, which used to be part of the Northwest Territories. Fun fact: when they were voting on names, the second most popular name for the territory was 'Bob'. Which tells you the sort of humor Canadians have. :)

"So the robbery was done through several shell corporations," Dax says, "but it seems to all trace back to Andoria."

"She's going back to a planet that wants to kill her?" Odo replies. "Andorian sentences are not known for their mercy."

"With my _latinum_." Quark shouts. "She's stolen ten bars of my latinum!"

"Yes, and your latinum." Odo sighs. "I won't forget the ten bars of latinum, Prophets forbid I forget that."

"Maybe you should go to Andoria, Odo." Sisko suggests. 

"If you're going, I'm going." Quark replies, standing up. "I want my latinum back."

"All right, fine." Odo shrugs. "We're _both_ going to Andoria."

"If this shuttle gets blown up by the Orion Syndicate," Odo mutters, "I swear I'm never going anywhere with you again."

"Promises, promises. And the Syndicate wants a lot more than ten bars of latinum to get in, I can tell you that much." Quark grumbles. _"My_ ten bars of latinum."

"Shuttlecraft _Napaaktoktok_ , requesting deparature clearance." Odo says to Jadzia, who is at Ops.

"Napaaktoktok, this is Ops giving you clearance to depart from upper pylon three. Enjoy your trip." Jadzia replies, and there is silence. 

Silence except for Quark's constant muttering.

Odo puts up with it for exactly three minutes. "Will you _stop complaining_?"

"No! Do you have any idea what being robbed is like to a Ferengi? It's not just _latinum _, Odo."__

The phrase rings in his ears. _it's not just latinum, Odo._. 

__He plots in a course to Andoria, but he thinks about what Quark is saying while he's doing it._ _

__"So what is it like?" he asks a few hours later._ _

__Quark is looking out the window. "What?"_ _

__"You said it's different, being robbed, for a Ferengi." He tries to prod him into their earlier conversation. "So what is it like, then?"_ _

__Quark is still looking out the window, staring out at the blackness. "It's ... you've heard people describe robbery as a violation. It goes deeper than that for Ferengi. We _are_ our latinum."_ _

__"Sounds like nonsense."_ _

__"It does, but that's how it is on Ferenginar."_ _

__The more he thinks about that, though, the more it does make sense._ _

__Quark's latinum _is_ an extension of himself._ _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'll let you go, then. Have fun with Quark, Odo." Jadzia winks and ends the transmission.
> 
> _What does that mean, have fun with Quark? What kind of fun would he have with Quark?_

"It's freezing out there!" Quark complains.

"It's not that bad." 

"Excuse me? It _is_ that bad. Look at all that. It's so cold out there that the rain is _frozen_. Frozen rain! All over the place, it's frozen rain!"

Odo opens the hatch of the shuttlecraft, and Quark's gasp turns into a high squeal.

"How can you possibly say that's not _freezing_?" Quark says in the wind, leaping over to his clothes.

"Isn't it bracing?" Odo chuckles, but he does shift himself some warmer clothes.

"It's horrible!" Quark is wrapping a blanket around himself, a large coat, and an obnoxiously huge pair of purple fluffy earmuffs, which go over his ears. 

"Can you still hear me?" Odo says.

"Of course I can. Garak made these for me."

"I can tell that. I could tell that from the colour." Odo replies tartly.

"What? You don't like my clothes?" Quark replies, his brow ridge raising over the massive orange and blue striped scarf wrapped around his face.

"Your clothes are as repulsive as you are." Odo says automatically.

But does he really feel that way?

He doesn't usually venture an opinion on Quark's clothes, other than them being 'bright'. 

But ... they do suit him. 

He tries to imagine Quark wearing the typical Bajoran earth tones and it doesn't ... it doesn't quite fit.

"Are we leaving this hunk of metal or are we going to sit here and turn into icicles?" Quark says.

"We should probably go." Odo says, and they step out onto the Andorian snowscape.

Quark complains all the way to their quarters. Which _of course_ are too cold for him.

"I'm going to freeze to death, and worse, I'm going to freeze to death before I get my latinum back, so that'll be less I have to bargain with at the Divine Treasury." He's still clothed, under all the blankets from both beds, and still complaining. 

"You think ten bars would make that much of a difference?" Odo says.

"Pah! Of course it would! Ten bars might make the difference between me being reincarnated as someone like myself and reincarnated as an idiot like _Rom_."

"What about a woman? Wouldn't that be worse?"

"Women are property, Odo, don't be dense." Quark glares at him from over the blanket. "They're part of the male's property."

"So what about your mother? Whose property is she?"

Quark sighs. "Rom's. Definitely not mine. She likes him better anyway."

This is something that Odo, who has never had siblings or parents, has never really understood, and still doesn't. "Your mother ... exhibited a _preference_ between you?" He turns that feeling over in his mind. It doesn't make sense. 

He does it again.

No.

It still doesn't make sense.

"Oh, yeah. He's the favorite, she says so all the time." Quark pulls the blanket over his head. 

He goes into the memories he borrowed from Curzon.

No, it doesn't make sense using those, either.

So he calls Jadzia after he's sure Quark has fallen asleep. He can't think of anyone else to talk to about this, and she knows Quark fairly well. Plus she's had children during her past lives, she would know.

"Commander." He says. "Do the majority of parental figures ... choose favorites among their children?"

"This is about Quark, isn't it?" she says, sipping her raktajino.

"How did you know?"

"Well, it's not about you, so it must be about Quark. And no, they don't. That's not something parents do. Not even Ferengi parents, as far as I know, although the only Ferengi parents I've ever met are Rom and Ishka. But none of the parents I've ever met chose favorites, and it's certainly something I never did as a parent." She smiles over her raktajino. "How are things?"

"Well, Quark is still complaining about his missing latinum, and the cold."

"It's a little chilly there, isn't it? And the case?"

"When the regular staff comes on at 0900 planetside time I expect things will move more quickly."

"Of course. It's late there, isn't it?" 

"It is." 

"I'll let you go, then. Have fun with Quark, Odo." Jadzia winks and ends the transmission.

_What does that mean, have fun with Quark? What kind of fun would he have with Quark?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is Plotty Stuff and Investigation. There is Undercover Work, during which Alcohol is purchased.

Odo waits for Quark to get out of bed, or at least emerge from the blankets, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good.

"Are you awake?" he asks eventually, around 10 00 hours.

"I've been awake for hours." Quark says from under the blankets. "Why?"

"I didn't know. I figured you were going to get up at some point."

"What's the point in getting out of bed if you're just going to freeze anyway? What have you found out so far?"

Odo coughs, an affectation, but a useful one. "Well, it appears that Tellan is posing as someone else here, a merchant named Tindel who specializes in import-export. She's had alterations done to her face." He shows Quark another image.

"Hmm." Quark says. "Wonder if she's very good at faking a new voice. People usually aren't."

"They aren't?"

Quark points to his ears. "Hello? Which one of us can hear better? Which one of us can hear exact _decibels_?"

"I suppose that would be you." Odo concedes. 

"Exactly." Quark replies smugly, and hops off the bed, still covered with all of the blankets. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to change." He sweeps off towards the other room, trailing the blankets behind him like a self-satisfied nagus with an excellent run on beetle snuff futures.

Most of the shops in the capital city of Andor were located in tall spires, better for the Andorians to see over the glittering snowscape. 

"It's still too cold." Quark complains.

"I'm surprised you can still feel cold under all those layers." Odo says with a sigh.

"Of course I'm still cold. You think it's this cold on Ferenginar?"

"I've never given your planet's weather a single thought." 

"Of course you haven't. It always rains on Ferenginar. And I mean _regular_ rain, not that awful frozen stuff." He waves a pink mittened hand at the outside window. Freezing rain is still falling, and it makes the snow sparkle as a few rays of the sun break through. "The weather here is horrible, it can't even decide whether it's _glebbening_ or _glepenning_ outside."

Odo looks over at him. "I have no idea what you just said."

"Rain, Odo. It can't decide what kind of rain it's raining."

"What difference does that make? It's all rain."

Quark looks at him like he's just said he's going to _give_ those ten bars of latinum to Rom and he's not even going to get him a brain transplant, either. "There are different _kinds_ of rain, you enormous goo puddle. Even hu-mans know that. Of course, their knowledge of rain is limited compared to the Ferengi, but so is their knowledge of financial systems."

"All the things that count, of course." Odo says acerbically, walking alongside Quark.

"Exact-sssh!" Quark slaps a mittened hand over Odo's mouth and pulls them both up against a wall, around a corner.

"What?" Odo whispers in Quark's ear. For some reason, their closeness makes that twisting feeling happen again in his insides.

"Listen."

"I can't hear anything."

"Then shut up and let me listen." Quark pulls one of his earmuffs away from his ears. "That's her voice, just a semitone higher. I told you she wouldn't really change it."

Odo spots her at a shop that's closing up for the evening. She nods at the proprietor.

"All right." he says. "Let's speak to the local guards."

"No." Quark says, and takes his hand.

"What are you _doing_?" Odo hisses.

"Just play along." He walks over to a merchant next to the shop that's closing up, one that sells alcoholic beverages. 

"We should get something to toast our anniversary, shouldn't we, lovey-kins?" Quark says in a sweet voice. He rests his head on Odo's shoulder.

Odo blinks for half a second. "Whatever you think ... darling."

"I can never choose anything, I'm always such a scatterbrain, you know that. You liked that springwine on Bajor, remember?"

"Yes, but you said it was _terrible_."

"Oh, that's right, I did." Quark smiles, and squeezes Odo's hand. "You're so smart, remembering these things. I'll find us something." He walks off down the aisle, poking through the bottles. Odo looks surreptitiously into his hand. 

Some sort of Bolian transmitter. Where Quark came by this he couldn't even begin to guess, but clearly he's got his sources. Odo presses it against the wall between the shops, at the bottom, behind several dusty bottles of alcohol.

Quark returns, holding a long, slender bottle. "How about this one?"

"That looks wonderful." Odo doesn't know one bottle of wine from another, to be honest. This one doesn't have bubbles and is a dark purple color.

"Ah, our local ice wine." the merchant praises Quark for his choice. "I hope you gentlemen enjoy your purchase."

"Well, I hope so too." Quark grins at him in return, and snakes his arm around Odo's back as they leave. 

Odo's insides twist again as they walk back to their rooms. 

He's really not sure why that keeps happening.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"How do your people ... couple, then?" Odo blurts.  
>  He can see one blue eye peer out from a mountain of blankets.  
> How did he not notice Quark's eyes before now? They're as blue as the Andorian seas outside.  
> And ... now he's making ridiculous comparisons between Quark's eyes and nature.  
> "Why are you asking?" A browridge is raised. "Do you want a demonstration?"  
> "No! I'm just ... curious, that's all."_
> 
> Curiosity kills the cat. Satisfaction ... comes later on in the story.

Quark retrieves the blankets from the floor and gets back underneath them as soon as they reach their quarters, pulling the blankets up over his head again.

"Can you still breathe under there?" 

"No, I'm _deliberately_ suffocating myself so you'll come and rescue me. Of _course_ I can breathe under here. Ferengi prefer to sleep this way." Quark snorts. "Next you'll be asking me if I sleep nude like some sort of fe-male. Which I don't, and I wouldn't even if it weren't freezing cold like this."

"How do your people ... couple, then?" Odo blurts.

He can see one blue eye peer out from a mountain of blankets.

How did he not notice Quark's eyes before now? They're as blue as the Andorian seas outside.

And ... now he's making ridiculous comparisons between Quark's eyes and nature.

"Why are you asking?" A browridge is raised. "Do you want a demonstration?"

"No! I'm just ... curious, that's all."

"We work _around_ the male's clothes." Quark pulls the blankets back over his face.

Odo coughs again and selects another Agatha Christie to read.

The following day, he and Quark return to the store.

"Did you gentlemen approve of your purchase?" the merchant asks.

"We never got around to drinking it." Quark gazes up at Odo and smiles, looking completely besotted. He wraps his arm around Odo's lower back, squeezing tightly. "Isn't that right, cuddlegrub?"

Odo swallows and nods.

"We should get some more wine to take home." Quark says. "Come with me? I think I remember where it was."

"Of course." 

He follows Quark down the aisle of bottles and carefully picks up the transmitter, sliding it into Quark's pocket. He pats Quark's pocket as he does so, and Quark smiles up at him and hands him three more bottles of the same wine he bought yesterday.

Odo gives him a questioning look.

"Don't tell me you don't want to remember the trip, darling." Quark looks up at him with a sweet smile. 

How is he thinking of Quark's looks as _sweet_ now?

"Of course I do." He reaches over and takes Quark's hand as he pays for the wine. 

"Did you get it back?" Quark whispers when they're back among the crowds.

"Of course." 

Quark grins, showing his pointed teeth, and inclines his head towards their rooms. His hand hasn't left Odo's waist, though. 

They pass Tellan's shop. Odo's about to say something when Quark grabs him and pulls his face down, kissing him on the mouth. 

He's about to protest, but he's sure that Quark has a reason for doing this.

Besides, it feels not ... unpleasant.

It feels nice.

Why is Quark's tongue licking at his lips?

Quark never does anything without a purpose behind it.

That feels ... not unwelcome, as well.

He allows the intrusion.

When Quark pulls away, he's breathing harder and he's flushed a bright shade of tangerine. "She was walking by. I didn't want her to see me."

"Of course." Odo nods.

That was obviously why.

They keep walking towards the lifts.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jadzia is basically the person that Odo needs to talk to. And Quark will be fine, I promise.

The recording from the Bolian transmitter has digital static on it, but it can be cleared up with easily enough. He can hear Tella's voice talking about a large shipment, ten crates of Vulcan lyres she'd just recieved, and how she was going to trade them for ... and then the transmitter goes dead.

"It's obviously code." Quark says from the middle of his rebuilt blanket nest.

"Clearly." Odo huffs. "But code for what?"

"My latinum! Ten crates, ten bars of latinum! The only question is what the trade is for. Vulcans never trade in musical instruments anyway, the profit is terrible on those because they take months to make by hand. I only ever met one Vulcan worth my time, and she was an arms dealer."

"You're lying." Odo says.

"I am not! A _Maquis_ arms dealer. I convinced her not to bother with her trade by using the rules." 

Odo raises an eyebrow. "Which one worked? Rule thirty-five, peace is good for business?"

Quark smiles smugly. "No. Rule number three. Never spend more for an acquisiton than you have to. If you apply that to peace talks from a Vulcan point of view, it's very logical, isn't it?"

"Hmmmph." Odo grumbles. 

But he's still thinking about the kiss.

He can't stop thinking about it.

After Quark is obviously asleep (Odo can tell because he snores like a targ and occasionally mumbles senseless things like _Rom give me my chew stick back_ ) he calls Jadzia again. She is at the Replimat this time.

"Odo!" She says. "How are things going? Quark is asleep, obviously."

"How can you tell?"

"I can hear the snoring. He snores like an Tarkalian wildebeest. Does he still talk in his sleep?"

"He just said something about Rom stealing his chew stick."

She laughs merrily. "He fell asleep in the bar once and gave me a long speech about last quarter's javonite futures. But I'm sure you didn't call to discuss _financial advice_ , Odo, you could have got that from Quark. What's wrong?"

Odo clears his throat. "Well ... uh ... yesterday ... we went undercover."

"Mmmhmmm." She nods, leaning forward.

He explains the whole situation with the wine merchant, how Quark was taking his hand, the questions, how Quark was ... touching him. And how Quark had kissed him to avoid attention from Tella on their way back from retrieving the transmitter.

"So Quark's been flirting with you." Jadzia says with a smile. "What's wrong with that? He flirts with everyone. He just flirts."

Odo remains silent.

"Unless you want him to flirt with you. Unless you _want_ it to turn into something more. And I'm afraid the only one who can decide that for you, Odo, is you."

"But how do I know that he means any of this?" Odo sighs. "I mean, he's a criminal and a liar. He wriggles out of everything like one of those grubworms he eats."

"All very good questions I can't answer for you." Jadzia replies. "But the fact that you _are_ asking them is a very good start."

He hears Jadzia get paged to Ops.

"I've gotta run, Odo. But like I said earlier, have fun with Quark." She winks again and ends her transmission.

He thinks for a while. 

He still doesn't know what 'have fun with Quark' means.

What would the Ferengi - what would _Quark_ want? Other than his latinum back, obviously.

 _Something to remember the trip_ , he had said. 

Odo had seen a few shops with some jewelry near the wine store that might suit him. 

Possibly. 

As if he'd given any thought to that.

What was he _doing_? 

It felt like he was floating in the Denorios Belt again. 

Not flying, just floating, to an unknown destination.

Or falling. He remembers falling briefly from his time as a solid, when he fell from the upper landing after attempting to turn into a Tarkalan hawk.

Well, he could _purchase_ them. He didn't have to _give_ them to Quark, he argues with himself.

Besides, it would take ten minutes.

He slipped out, focused on his mission.

When he returns, twenty minutes later, the suite is silent.

Unnaturally silent.

And ... Quark's blanket nest is completely empty.

Odo looks around, immediately on alert. It looks like there's been a struggle, like Quark's put up a fight. A few of the pillows are on the floor, the blankets have been kicked away. 

The transmitter is gone, too.

Odo turns into a Rafalian mouse and goes back down to the shops.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More plotty things. 
> 
> Odo is attuned to Quark's noises. 
> 
> (Strictly for criminal purposes.)
> 
> Quark is rescued.
> 
> They take a sonic shower together and fail to get naked in it.

He goes down the back stairs and listens carefully. 

Fortunately, he's always been attuned to Quark's noises (strictly for criminal purposes, of course).

Although there's a part of him that wonders what kind of noises Quark would make in other situations.

No. 

Not now. 

He needs to focus.

Also, Quark is _loud_.

"Let me out! My boyfriend's going to be looking for me, and he'll be really angry when he finds out you kidnapped me, I'm telling you!"

Odo jumps backwards. 

He never agreed to be Quark's _boyfriend_.

No, Quark was lying. 

He had to be lying. 

Was he lying?

More importantly, did he _want_ Quark to be lying?

Later. 

He'll think about that later.

He finds Quark (this is easy - he follows the shouting) cuffed to a chair in the back of Tellan's shop.

"Let me go! I know the Grand Nagus! He likes me! He'll pay you!"

Odo jumps onto Quark's shoulder. "Quark." he whispers.

"Odo?" Quark murmurs.

"It's me. I'm sitting on your shoulder."

"They got the transmitter."

"Where?"

Quark inclines his head towards a set of shelves at the back of the shop. 

Odo jumps down. Just as he's about to shift back, another Andorian enters, this one in an Imperial Guards' uniform. Odo decides to stay put in his mouse form and let this play out.

Tellan gets up. "Shalvat."

"Tellan. What is this Ferengi doing here?"

"I was just asking that myself!" Quark shouts. "The Nagus will pay handsomely for my release!"

"He doesn't know anything." Tellan says. "He was asleep when we went to get the transmitter. We should let him go."

"We _should_ kill him." Shalvat's eyes are merciless.

"Are you certain that's wise? An offworlder dead, there will be questions. And he does claim to be highly connected on Ferenginar."

"I know the Emmisary of the Bajoran Prophets!" Quark is trying to sound as brash as he possibly can while his voice is shaking. "He has the lease on my bar _and_ he's my brother's boss!"

(Ultimately, Odo supposes, both of those things are true.)

"Your brother must be highly respected. All right." Shalvat replies. "Release him then. We've already gotten what we need from him. But post a guard outside the door."

Odo turns into an Earth mosquito and lands on Quark's shoulder until they get back to the suite of rooms, then he turns back to his regular form. Quark presses a finger to his lips and jerks his head towards the bathroom area.

Quark gets into the shower area and gestures that he also get inside.

Odo follows, confused. Surely Ferengi don't shower in their pyjamas? 

Then the sonic shower turns on to a rotating frequency.

"Now they can't hear us." Quark replies, speaking quietly. "I figured with the Imperial Guard getting involved there might be some surveillance devices in the main room. So this is as good a way as any."

"Do you use this trick a lot?" Odo asks, amused.

"Only with people I like enough to see in my shower." Quark grins, batting his eyelashes. "We can sweep the usual places in the room later. Have you made any calls off the planet?"

"Just to Jadzia, twice, and I didn't tell her anything about the case they couldn't find out themselves from either surveilling us or publicly available records."

Quark nods. "I didn't hear anything either while they were interrogating me."

"They didn't ... they didn't hurt you at all?" Odo's stomach twists again.

"Nah. Just smacked me around, asked some questions. Wanted to know if I knew anybody here, which I don't. I complained a lot about the climate for a while - that was easy enough. But we should probably investigate that guy from the Imperial Guard."

"Shalvat." Odo nods. "We probably should."

"Garak's awake. I'll give him a call." Quark says, and hops out of the shower. 

"You're going to call Garak?"

"Can you think of anybody _better_ to call about this?" Quark asks. "I'll disguise the frequency and make it look like it's coming from my third cousin Ridan. He won't care, and if he does he owes me because I loaned him two strips five years ago." 

"Treat people in your debt like family. Exploit them." Odo chuckles. 

"One hundred and eleventh rule."

"So this Lieutenant Shalvat - such a clever trick you used, Quark, the signal does really look like it's coming from Ferenginar." Garak leans back in his chair. "You'll have to teach me that one."

"We can set a price for it as soon as we get off this frozen rock that's got at least one person trying to kill me, Garak." Quark replies, absently rubbing the edge of his ear.

"Of course, of course. In any case, this Lieutenant Shalvat was under the command of a starship, the _Weytahn_. And it was sabotaged by the Romulans. He and a Lieutenant Tanel were the only two to survive, and she later died from her injuries. I did some research into her as well. She appears to be Tellan's older sister." 

"Great, that's great. I thought my family drama was enough and now we're right in the middle of another one except it's trying to kill both of us. Thanks, Garak."

"Of course." 

The transmission ends. 

"So by the rules of Andorian society, if you've failed under a starship's command you usually aren't reassigned to another starship." Odo muses to himself.

"That's a dumb rule." Quark says. "Who made that up? Especially since the Romulans sabotaged the ship. On Ferenginar, we handle everything sensibly."

"On Ferenginar you handle everything using bribery."

"Which is a perfectly sensible way of doing things that doesn't involve resulting to violence!"

Odo pauses. "Wait. Quark, I could kiss you."

"Really? I wish you would, you tease."

He stares at Quark, who stares back, and then Odo shakes his head. "Later. Tellan was arrested for kidnapping the son of a high-level politician. She's going to do it again, with Shalvat's help. And she stole your latinum to get a ship."

"Ten bars could get her one hell of a ship with the right connections." Quark replies.

"Probably one with a _cloaking device._ I expect Romulan - no one would suspect them."

There was banging at the door. 

Odo turns the shower off, shifts himself into wearing just a towel, closes the shower partition after Quark jumps back in there, and opens the door, very slightly. "Yes?" 

"We were wondering why the shower was running so long." the guard says.

"Oh, my boyfriend quite enjoys oo-mox in the shower." Odo replies. 

"I see. I'll leave you alone, then." 

Odo hears the outer door close again and sighs. 

Quark pokes his head out of the shower portion of the room. "I'm your boyfriend now?"

"You called me your boyfriend first." Odo replies.

"Oh. Uh. I didn't know you'd actually heard that."

They look each other in the eyes again.

"Are all of your pyjamas so ... awful?" Odo says, shifting back into his uniform.

"Moogie bought these for me!" Quark replies indignantly.

"Well, now I know who to blame."

For some reason, the arguing is soothing.

They search the room in silence and uncover several surveillence devices. Odo doesn't question how Quark knows how to disable them, he just accepts that. Then Quark collapses in his blanket nest. 

After a few minutes, Odo hears laughter from under the blankets.

"What's funny?" 

"Just that they thought that _Rom_ was highly respected."

Odo has to admit, that _is_ fairly amusing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They figure it out. Odo punches Quark in the eye. (Strictly for criminal purposes.)

Another day, another sonic shower.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Quark frets.

"I have a plan for that. All we need to know now is who Tellan and Shalvat are trying to kidnap."

Quark listens at the door for a moment, and then puts two fingers up from a closed fist.

Two guards, then. 

Odo looks at the schedule for the city today.

"Wait." Quark murmurs. "A lot of the stores are closed. That's not normal. Why would they be closed when they could be making latinum?"

Odo looks again. It's not a holiday or a day of rest.

"Closed for the Chancellor's visit." Quark reads off of the bottom of the screen in a horrified whisper. "Do you realize what this means?"

"Yes, darling." Odo replies soberly. "I'm afraid I do." 

And then he punches Quark in the eye.

Quark screams. The guards come running from outside. Odo takes them out fairly easily.

"What did you do that for?" Quark complains as he gets up.

"Oh, please." Odo sighs. "I had to make sure your screaming was realistic. Just tie them up and gag them and _don't_ forget to disarm them."

"I should make you kiss it better." Quark mutters under his breath as he ties the second guard to the chair and removes their disruptor rifles and knives. 

"Fine." Odo sighs. He leans in and kisses the orbit of the eye socket gently. "Is that ... better?"

Why is his stomach fluttering again?

Quark's smile is broad and full of pointed teeth. "A bit. You can make up for the rest later, after we save this freezer compartment from itself."

Quark is fairly easy to disguse, under all the clothes he wears. He just puts more clothes on and makes sure they're different ones. Today he's wearing a tartan scarf in reds and blues that is really more like a small blanket wrapped around his face and ears (he got this from Chief O' Brien when he heard where they were going) and mittens that were large and several different shades of blue. Odo shifts into a different outfit, blue and red like Quark's scarf.

"Keiko's teaching Leeta to do some weird Earth craft with yarn." Quark says. "She made these mittens for me. She says mittens are better for the cold because all of your fingers are held together in one place. I don't know, it makes sense, I guess."

"You look remarkably cute under all of that, you know."

Quark grins again. "You're just saying that because you punched me."

"No, I'm saying it because it's true." Odo thinks. "Well, and maybe a little because I punched you."

"How are we getting into the Chancellor's orbit, dearest?"

"I'm sure your sweet words will get us exactly where we need to be, my golden-tongued one."

"How much did you learn from reading those Bajoran smut novels, anyway?" Quark whispers as they walk.

"If you're lucky you might just find out."

"I'll spin the wheel. The riskier the road, the greater the profit." Quark's grin is positively salacious as they slip into the crowd.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stabbing! Quark is, once again, going to be fine.

Odo and Quark weave through the crowd of Andorians.

"Be careful of those disruptors they have. They don't have a stun setting." Odo mutters. He spots Shalvat by the edge of the crowd dressed in casual clothing, and Tellan moving in closer to the chancellor. He points them out to Quark. 

"Got it. Plus all that cutlery they've got hidden away." He sees Quark's eyes light up as the Chancellor and his entourage, flanked by Imperial Guards, passes them. "Watch and learn." He rushes up to the Chancellor. "Chancellor! I bring a message to you from the Grand Nagus of Ferenginar!"

The guards grab for their sidearms. Odo's stomach squrims.

"Let him speak." The Chancellor says. "If he speaks for the Nagus, it must be important."

"Oh, it _is_ important, truly important." Quark smiles. "And I must say it's truly an honor to meet you for a humble servant such as myself." He puts his hands together in the beggar's position. "The Nagus wishes to speak to you on a _private_ matter, for your ears only, you understand." He raises a browridge and smiles. 

"And your name is?"

"One of the Nagus' most trusted advisors." Quark smiles. "I prefer to remain nameless and let him take the credit. It never hurts to suck up to the boss!"

The Chancellor laughs. "How delightful! Well, you must come along!"

"Oh, and I should introduce you to my partner, Odo." Quark puts his head on Odo's shoulder and wraps his arm around Odo's waist, making perfectly clear which meaning of 'partner' he had in mind. "He's in the security business. Aren't you, my Koladian diamond?"

"I am indeed. It's an honor to meet you, Chancellor." 

Odo's reaching out to shake his hand when he spots the knife and tackles the chancellor to the ground. Quark takes the blade instead. Blood spills on the floor, and Quark's shrill screams echo the halls. 

"It was Shalvat! Look for a Romulan ship!" Odo shouts to a nearby Guard, who runs off in pursuit.

"Don't die, you idiot." Odo mutters, gathering Quark in his arms. He doesn't care about the blood. 

"I have no intention of dying here on this spacefaring ice floe without my ten bars of latinum." Quark winces in pain. "For one thing, Rom would get the bar and I have no intention of letting _that_ happen."

"How did you know about this attempt on my life?" The Chancellor gets to his feet. "You must tell me. After we see to your partner's medical needs, of course."

"Of course." Odo replies with a slight smile. 

He takes Quark's hand and holds it all the way to the Medical Bay.

The Chancellor is aghast that they worked all of this out, and immediately sends someone to arrest the two men still tied up in their quarters. Odo says there is further proof on a Bolian listening device on a set of shelves in the back of Tellan's shop. As soon as he says that the merchant they know as Tindel is actually the criminal Tellan, the chancellor orders the city sealed and all ships to remain docked until they are scanned and searched by Imperial Guards. 

"He doesn't mess around." Quark raises a browridge. "I bet you wish you could do that back home." 

Odo harumphs to himself. "Occasionally, yes. Are you feeling any better?"

"He didn't hit any major organs or arteries. If I say yes, will you kiss me again, or do I have to say no for that?" Quark looks up, his eyes brimming with hope.

Odo kisses him without him saying anything. The kiss is soft, yielding and sweet and like nothing at all he expects. 

When he comes back to himself, he feels the doctor nudging him. 

"The chancellor has asked that you and your partner be his personal guests for the rest of your stay. If you'd like, I can have your things brought to your new suite."

"That would be wonderful." Odo replies, but he's still looking into Quark's hope-filled eyes. "Thank you."

"If I can see you at 0800 for breakfast, I would very much like to discuss something with you both." The Chancellor says. "Until then, you must rest."

Odo looks at a chronometer. It's barely 1500 hours. 

Well, he supposes he is on vacation now that the criminals have been apprehended. And Quark does need to be cared for. (And, if he's perfectly honest with himself, spoiled.)

They are shown into a lavish suite with an enormous double bed, full of plush pillows and covered with a blue and gold coverlet, the royal colors.

"Blessed Exchequer." Quark breathes. "It's almost not freezing in here."

"We did turn the environmental controls up, knowing that you both were from off-world." the steward says. "Is there anything you need?"

"Just one thing, actually." Quark says.

Odo winces internally. He's going to mention the latinum. 

"I've heard great things about your snow cream. Can you get me a bowl of snow cream?"

"Oh! Of course! Anything for you, sir?"

"I'm fine." Odo smiles and takes Quark's hand under the table, massaging it gently.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut and cuddling and they return home. I know someone who eats ice cream like this, which is where the inspiration for the fic comes from.

Quark takes a bottle of the ice wine out and pours some of it over the snow cream as soon as it arrives. Then he takes a bite.

"What are you _doing_?"

"Morn said it was good like this!" He takes a bite and licks his lips. "And he was right, too. I'd offer you some, but you don't eat. The wine is sweet and thick, like a sauce, so it compliments the snow cream." 

"Hmmm. Sounds interesting."

"It's great. I'll have to thank Morn." Quark replies, licking his lips as he finishes the rest of the snow cream.

Odo remembers how that tongue felt in his mouth. 

Quark looks at him, curiously, across the table. "Something wrong?"

"I ... don't know." Odo replies, and strokes the sides of Quark's head. 

Quark hums and leans in, and they kiss. It's sweet, like the last time, but Odo's curiosity about Quark and their previous kiss gets the better of him. He tries licking his own tongue against Quark's mouth, and Quark moans, wrapping his arms around Odo's shoulders. He climbs onto Odo's lap, flexing his hips. 

"You're delicious." Quark whispers.

"Am I?" 

"Mmm. You are. I've wondered about that for a while."

"I'm confused." Odo pulls away from the kiss for a moment.

Quark sighs. "What's confusing?"

"We argue all the time, Quark!"

Quark looks at him with a very slight smile on his face. "Have you never watched Cardassians flirt?"

"No!"

"Of course you haven't, you were never in the bar during the Bajoran Occupation except when someone committed a crime. That's flirtation among Cardassians, Odo."

"Arguing is flirtation?"

"It sure is." Quark grins.

"So ... you were _flirting_ with me."

"To be fair, I flirt with a lot of people." He traces a finger along Odo's face. "It's just customer service. But with you ... with you, it _means_ something."

Odo kisses Quark again. This time the kiss is more serious. Quark adds heat to it and starts making delicious little whining noises into Odo's mouth.

Odo pulls away from the kiss again. 

"What now?" Quark pants.

"Jadzia kept saying something that didn't make sense."

"She does that a lot, I think it's the symbiont's fault, all those lifetimes. What was it?"

"She kept telling me I should have fun with you."

"Oh." Quark's smile is all teeth again. "That."

"You know what she was talking about?"

"I have something of an idea. I think it's fun - well, most people do." He runs his finger along the side of Odo's face again. "Probably not the best idea to do it in a chair, though, it's a bit complicated working around the clothes."

Odo thinks for a moment. _"Ah."_

"Yes. Ah." Quark kisses him again. "We don't have to, we can just snuggle. That's nice too, I don't get a lot of that."

"No?"

"Most of my lovers don't bother staying the night." Quark replies with a shrug. "The majority of Cardassians aren't really up for cuddling. Well, I don't know, I could ask Doctor Bashir about Garak, maybe he's a cuddler." 

Odo looks at Quark in disbelief.

"What, you haven't noticed? _Really_? You're slipping." 

"I'll show you slipping." Odo grumbles.

"Promises, promises." Quark crows with laughter and falls backwards on the bed. Odo tackles him, and they wrestle for a few minutes. 

Quark's face is bright and happy and Odo has to kiss him again. One kiss leads to another, and a third, a fourth. 

"I can't stop kissing you." Odo whispers in Quark's ear. "It's nice."

"If you want to slip into something more comfortable, just say so." Quark murmurs. "It'll involve working around some of my clothes."

"I don't think I'd mind."

Quark smiles up at him, a flirty one this time, and bats his eyelashes again. Odo tries to undo the buttons - buttons, and closures, and knots. So many different fastenings. "Just tell me when to stop."

"I will." Quark replies, still touching Odo's body. Odo shifts out of his clothes, giving Quark alluring glimpses of a tall, lean form with more muscle than than he's thought about, and he's spent quite some time thinking about Odo and his body.

"You look as delicious as you taste, you know." Quark whispers. 

"Hmm, I'm glad you think so." Odo replies, murmuring into Quark's ear. 

Quark groans and flexes his hips again. "I think that's enough clothes."

"You make the most appealing noises, you know." Odo whispers, and puts his fingers between Quark's thighs. 

It's wet there, sticky and warm. Quark sighs and lets his legs fall open. "You were going to show me how much you learned?"

"I was, yes, wasn't I?" Odo murmurs, and flexes his fingers inside Quark. Quark's moan is passionate and filthy, and Odo does it again. 

"You like that?" 

"Hmmm, yeah." 

Odo carefully removes his fingers and enters Quark gently. Quark keens and jerks his hips up. 

"Oh." Odo can't believe how soft he is, how amazingly silky inside. He jerks his hips against Quark's, and Quark moans. 

"Good?"

"Amazing." Quark breathes. 

They try it again - faster, harder. Odo pins Quark down, accidentally, and Quark keens with excitement. 

"You like that?" Odo whispers in his ear.

"Yeah." Quark replies in a low murmur. "Sometimes I do."

"I'll remember." Odo grins. 

"Right now, I just want you to fuck me." 

Well, Odo had thought he wanted to spoil Quark. And if this is what Quark wanted, well ... he could spoil him like this, by fucking him. Gently, and then harder and harder, until he spills himself inside Quark with a loud groan. Then he sets his hands gently on Quark's earlobes, doing his best to figure out oo-mox, and Quark moans again. His body twitches several times. 

"Was that all right?" he murmurs in Quark's ear.

"It was fantastic." Quark breathes. 

"Good, then?" Odo cuddles up against Quark.

"Yeah."

The next morning, they meet with the Chancellor, and he inducts them as honorary members of the Andorian Imperial Guard. 

Then they are scheduled to depart.

"So what happens now?" Quark says after they get back on the shuttlecraft and plot in a course for DS9.

"Well, what do you want to happen?" Odo replies, trying to sound mollifying. 

"I don't ... know?" Quark replies. "I mean, I like this, but if you don't, I can just forget it all happened -"

"Quark." Odo turns around in the chair and takes his hands. "I like this. I do. I ... enjoy doing things with you. I enjoy _everything_ I do with you, everything we've done."

"So this isn't just a weird temporary vacation thing?"

Odo looks at Quark oddly. "No. Why would it be?"

"Well, you might have second thoughts. People do that."

"I don't, Quark. I haven't. And I'm not going to." Odo sighs. 

_I'm going to stay_ , he thinks, but doesn't bother saying. 

Quark looks ... almost hopeful.

"I never got my latinum back." Quark mutters about halfway home.

"Whatever are you going to do? You'll have to keep being nefarious."

"I suppose I got something better than latinum, though." Quark says to his bowl of tube grubs.

"Honorary Membership in the Andorian Imperial Guard, yes. Very impressive for a Ferengi." Odo replies dryly.

Quark frowns at him. "You're being an terrible boyfriend right now."

"And you paid ten bars of latinum for me, too."

"I know." Quark sighs. "I should have haggled her down to six. Obviously the medication."

"Clearly." Odo huffs with amusement.

"So." Jadzia asks Odo the following afternoon. "I see you had _fun_ on your vacation." She grins mischeviously.

"How do you _know_ these things?" Odo asks her curiously.

"I've lived seven lifetimes, Odo." She laughs. "You get to experience a lot of _fun_ over seven lifetimes."


End file.
